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Royalty, women, Americans: Eight Formula 1 drivers who also competed in the Olympics
By Elizabeth Blackstock,
7 hours ago
Alex Zanardi takes his third Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Motorsport may not be part of the Olympics — but eight different Formula 1 drivers have participated in the Olympic Games!
These eight racers all had varying levels of success in both Formula 1 and in the Olympics; in fact, only one driver on this list actually won a medal. But each athlete was unique for their ability to contest multiple disciplines.
Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh is better known by the shortened name he raced under, Prince Bira. Bira was an avid sportsman who began racing in 1935 and who continued his career with the advent of Formula 1 in 1950. Though he never won an official Grand Prix, he did finish an impressive fourth several times.
Bira was also a sailor and contested sailing events in four different Olympic Games. He did not secure a medal.
Alfonso de Portago
Olympics entered : 1956 (Cortina d’Ampezzo)
Sport : Two-man bobsleigh
Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago — better known as Alfonso de Portago — took up several sporting hobbies as a youth, including piloting aircraft, jockeying, racing cars, and driving bobsleighs. It was for his bobsleigh skills that he entered the Olympics representing Spain in 1956. He and his teammate finished a shocking fourth — just out of reach of a medal, but outperforming many more skilled entrants.
De Portago was also an avid racer, contesting a handful of Formula 1 races after beginning a sportscar racing career in 1953. Unfortunately, de Portago was killed at age 28 during the Mille Miglia.
Roberto Mieres
Olympics entered : 1960 (Rome)
Sport : Sailing
Argentine racer Roberto Mieres was a master of countless disciplines, including rowing, sailing, rugby, tennis, and — of course – racing. He took his motorsport career to Europe alongside Juan Manuel Fangio and Jose Froilan Gonzalez, where he impressed the Gordini team enough to secure a Formula 1 seat. He secured a best finish of fourth twice in 1954 and once in 1955.
His racing career slowed in the late 1950s, and it was then that Mieres returned to sailing. He was invited to the 1960 Summer Olympics, where he represented Argentina in sailing. Mieres finished 17th, beating Prince Bira in the same event.
Sport : Downhill Alpine skiing (1964-1972), speed skiing demonstration (1992)
Divina Galica was a skiing star long before she ever climbed into the cockpit of a race car. She participated in her first Olympic games when she was just 19, then appeared at the subsequent two events as the captain of the British Women’s Olympic Ski Team.
Her sporting prowess earned her an invite to compete in a celebrity race, where Galica realized she also showed promise. She worked her way through the ShellSport International Series and attempted to start four Formula 1 Grands Prix, though she did not qualify for any of them.
Robin Widdows’ Formula 1 career was brief: The British racer started and retired from the 1968 British Grand Prix, though he did enjoy success in sportscar racing.
Widdows was also a keen bobsleigher, when he joined the four-man bobsleigh team from England to finished 13th in 1964 and eighth in 1968.
Bob Said, the son of a Syrian father and a Russian mother, first discovered motorsport while he was attending Princeton. He soon left to begin a racing career in 1951, becoming the first American to win a road race in Europe after World War II. He found ample success in setting speed records and competing in sports car racing, but he spun out on the first lap of his only Formula 1 race, the 1959 US Grand Prix.
Said went on to become an avid bobsleigher, competing in two Olympic Games. His best result was 10th overall.
Ben Pon
Olympics entered : 1972 (Munich)
Sport : Skeet shooting
Ben Pon’s first love was cars thanks to his father’s status as a Dutch importer of Volkswagen Beetles into the United States. Having befriended Formula 1 driver Carel Godin de Beaufort, Pon was given his first and only F1 ride behind the wheel of a privateer Porsche 787. At the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix, Pon flipped and was thrown from his cockpit; he never again attempted to race a single-seater, though he did find success in sports cars.
Pon retired from racing in 1965, well before he represented the Netherlands in clay pigeon skeet shooting at the 1972 Olympics. He finished 31st in the event, then turned his complete focus to winemaking in California.
Alex Zanardi
Olympics entered : 2012 (London), 2016 (Rio)
Sport : Hand cycling: time trial H4/H5, road race H4/H5, mixed team relay H1-4/H2-4
Of all the drivers on this list, Alex Zanardi is the only driver turned Olympian to win medals.
Zanardi’s Formula 1 career was a bit haphazard and in five years of competition, he only scored a single point. However, he was instantly more successful upon switching to CART, winning championships in 1997 and 1998. Unfortunately, in 2001, Zanardi was involved in a racing accident in Germany that saw him lose both of his legs.
A sportsman through and through, Zanardi returned to motorsport and also to a new sport, handcycling. He was a near instant phenom, winning several key events before being invited to compete in both the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics. He has taken home four gold medals and two silvers.
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